


Land of Yesterday

by JadelynTate



Series: Darcy Eppes-Granger [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Numb3rs, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Darcy Lewis is the fandom bicycle and I love it, Darcy Lewis-centric, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Phil Coulson & Darcy Lewis Friendship, Post-Thor (2011), Real Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 01:06:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13729869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadelynTate/pseuds/JadelynTate
Summary: Darcy is confronted with her past by Agent Coulson post Thor.





	Land of Yesterday

She should have known this would all come out the moment they got involved with SHIELD. 

This was the thought going through her head when Agent Ipod Thief placed four pictures down on the table in front of her. One was of her dad, two were her brothers, and the fourth…well, shit. Had they really been that sloppy the last time she was in California? 

“I take it Dr. Foster is unaware of your…familial situation?” Coulson asked blandly as he sat down across from her. They were in a private room in the SHIELD base they’d set up outside Puente Antiguo, thankfully, which meant she didn’t have to worry about Jane overhearing. 

“She knows I have two older brothers, yes, and that I grew up on California,” Darcy replied just as blandly. “Does she know one of them is her math crush? No, definitely not. I have nightmares already about what she would like to do with him and just, ew. No.” 

Coulson didn’t respond in any detectable way, causing her to pout. She’d been hoping…well, maybe some of the other tricks she’d developed over the years would work. 

“Eleanor Darcy Eppes was born July 4th, 1980, the third and last of the children of Alan and Margaret Eppes,” Coulson said before she could bust them out. “When you turned 18, you legally changed your name to Darcy Lewis, the last name being your paternal grandmother’s maiden name.” 

“Doesn’t stop the idjits from calling me Edi though,” Darcy muttered, thinking back on her brother’s insistence they would call her by her childhood nickname no matter what. Don had called her by her initials as a baby and eventually the nickname had developed into Edi. 

“Does your husband know your story?” 

“You mean does Colby know he married his bosses little sister? Cause, I think Don nearly killing him when he found out we were dating might have given it away,” she replied sarcastically. 

“Why did you change your name?”

Oooh, new angle. “Why do _you_ think I changed my name?” she shot back, arms crossing as she leaned back. She let a familiar smirk cross her lips. “Since you’re the big bad agent, you should have some idea.” 

Coulson stared at her a moment. “You are most definitely Eppes’ little sister,” he finally said and before she could respond, not that she knew what to even say to that, he continued. “You wanted to get out of their shadow.” 

“Why?” she said after a moment. It wasn’t hard to figure out but part of her wanted him to say it, to lay it all out there, to prove he actually knew what he was talking about. 

“Don Eppes could have become a professional baseball player but instead became a highly respected FBI agent,” Coulson said. “Charlie Eppes graduated high school at 13 and is regarded as being one of the brightest minds in the world.” 

“A magazine a couple months ago named him as being in the top ten smartest people on Earth,” Darcy threw out in a lazy manner. 

“You, on the other hand, was a rambunctious child who your parents didn’t plan but loved nevertheless,” Coulson continued. She raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him, which he seemingly ignored. “Your mother moved across the country to be with Dr. Eppes at college when you were only 8 years old, leaving you to be raised by a single father until you were 13.” 

“We saw Mom and Charlie every school break and she came back full time when he turned 18,” she shrugged. “But yeah, Dad did most of the informative years on his own.” 

“You were an above average student but no where near Dr. Eppes and you never did any sports in high school, unlike Agent Eppes who did every sport he could,” Coulson said. “You knew you could never compete with them academically or athletically.” 

“So I became a little shit!” she chirped, repeating what Ian had said once when they’d discussed why she’d hidden who she was. It had taken the sniper weeks to get back on Dad’s good side when he’d overheard the joking comment. 

Coulson’s lips twitched. “I’ve worked with both your brothers before,” he informed her dryly. “If you were trying to do something that they hadn’t, being a little shit didn’t work.” 

Darcy’s mouth dropped open slightly as she stared at Coulson, stunned. Then, abruptly, she began laughing. 

“Colby said the same thing!” she crowed from where she was half falling out of her seat. 

Coulson paused a moment. “Did he say it in front of them and if so, are there pictures?” 

Darcy, who’d been calming down, cracked up again even as she nodded. Amita and Robin had both whipped their phones out and snapped pictures of their respective husbands expressions. Darcy had gotten the copies that night after everyone had gone home. 

When she finally managed to stop laughing, she sat back up straight in her chair. “Ohh, I needed that, thank you,” she said, wiping at her eyes. 

“I was serious,” he replied back, though he had a small smile on his face as he said it. “Like I said, I’ve worked with both your brothers before. I know how they can be.” 

Darcy giggled. “You know, for a shady government stooge, you’re not too bad.” 

“I’m sure your brothers would disagree,” he replied dryly. 

Darcy was still chuckling when Coulson abruptly leaned back in his seat. “I won’t be telling anyone who you are,” he said and she let her chuckles taper off. “Except my director, if only so he knows we have another Eppes headache on our hands.” 

Part of Darcy was absurdly proud that all three of the Eppes kids could give a shadow agency director a headache. The bigger part of her though was offended.

“Hey!” she exclaimed. “Rude.” 

Before he could say anything more, her phone went off with a familiar ringtone. Coulson raised an eyebrow at her us of Men In Black as she pulled it out and made a face. 

“Given the ringtone, I’m assuming that’s Agent Eppes?” 

“Yup.” 

“Are you going to answer it?” 

“Do you want two Eppes headaches in person cause if I don’t, you gonna get one,” she warned and he sighed. 

“Answer the phone,” he ordered and she grinned, pressing the green button. 

“Hi Donnie!” she chirped. 

“Are you okay?” Don immediately demanded, voice crackling over the line. “The news just announced some sort of attack in the town where you’ve been working with Dr. Foster.” 

“I’m fine, sorry I didn’t call, cell service has been a bitch,” she assured him as Coulson picked up something, put it to his ear, and clearly began listening in. “I got nothing but a few scratches and bruises. Nothing worse than what I get with Colby when we forget ourselves.” 

She could practically feel Don gritting his teeth and mentally counting to fifty. Faintly in the background she could hear Colby sigh and tell someone else, 

“Yup, she’s okay.”

“How do you know?” someone else, she thought it was Ian, asked. 

“Bossman is glaring at me, which means she probably just told him something he really didn’t need to know about us,” he responded and Darcy couldn’t help but giggle and beam at Coulson. To her delight, he rolled his eyes back at her. Even she knew that wasn't normal behavior for the stoic agent. 

“You’re coming home,” Don finally ordered. 

“I most certainly am not!” she squawked.

“Colby’s coming to get you,” he continued as if she hadn’t just spoken. “You’ll be back by tomorrow night.” 

“No, I won’t,” she replied back firmly. “And you tell Colby that if he actually listens to you, Robin will be a widow and he’ll be divorced!” 

Don started ranting then. She let him, knowing from experience it was due to terror, not from any actual anger. She tilted her head when she saw Coulson write something down on a piece of paper and slide it over to her. 

_I didn’t think I’d ever find someone who annoyed Agent Eppes more than myself and my team._

She let out an involuntary snort, breaking Don from his rant. “What,” he demanded slowly. “is so funny?” 

“You thinking you can get out of kidnapping charges by sending my husband to pick me up,” she replied without hesitation. “Or that you think Jane will just let him take me—she may be tiny but she’s fierce.” 

It was Coulson’s turn to snort, clearly remembering Jane’s reaction when one of his agents had suggested Darcy be let go as her intern. It had not been pretty and the agent in question hadn’t been around the lab since. One of the other agents, the funny one who’d shared her popcorn during the entire thing, had said he’d requested a transfer because of the encounter.

“Colby can handle one physicist,” Don said, though he didn’t sound entirely convinced. In the background she could hear some muffled snickers as Colby said something about thinking he should be offended. 

“Don, he couldn’t even bring himself to hit back against a perp who was hitting him because she was a girl,” she said slowly. “While I love the moron, he’d never win against Jane because she’d steamroll right over him and he’d let her.” 

The line was silent long enough she began to wonder if he’d hung up on her. Then, finally, he let out a gusty sigh that was half exasperation and half laughter. 

“Fine, Colby won’t come and get you,” he said and she slumped in her seat in relief. “However, I want a video call tonight, eight o’clock our time. I’ll tell Charlie and Dad.” 

In other words, he wanted to see for himself that she was fine, not just hear it. She nodded, then realized he couldn’t see that. “That’s doable,” she agreed and gave Coulson a look. “Our internet got back up and running this morning so that shouldn’t be a problem.” 

He nodded back and went to the door, poking his head out to say something to another agent. In truth, the internet was actually still down in town but she figured the agent could get them some sort of connection by eight. If he didn’t and Darcy didn’t call, Don would throw caution to the wind and she’d have the entire family down there by midnight. He had to know that and he clearly didn’t want to deal with her brothers again. 

Also, Jane had been bitching about the lack of internet for most of the morning, so if they wanted her to play nice with them and share her work, they best get on that anyway.

“Okay, fine, Colby wants to talk to you,” Don said after a few more minutes of the two planning the call. “I’ll see you later, sis.” 

“See ya, Donnie,” she replied and then waited a few minutes before she heard someone else come on the line. “Hey Colb.” 

“You’re really okay?” he asked quietly and she smiled softly. 

“Really really,” she replied back just as quietly. She paused. “I didn’t fight or anything like that, I just evacuated people. The worse I got was a couple cuts that required stitches on my arm.”

He let out a deep breath and she knew that he had been more worried than he had let on. “Okay,” he said. “When you’re done with your brothers and dad, call me on my laptop, okay?” he asked. “I want to see you too.” 

“You could just go to Charlie’s house and talk to me there,” she said, knowing he’d never do it. 

“I could, but then our conversation wouldn’t be private, now would it?” he asked lowly. 

She laughed softly. “So predictable,” she teased and he huffed his own chuckle. She paused, glancing at Coulson. He hadn’t gone back to listening in, which she appreciated. “Do you know an Agent Phil Coulson?” she asked on a whim. The agent in question turned a querying look upon her and she smiled back mischievously. 

“I’ve never met the man, but I’ve heard of him,” Colby answered after a moment. “Why?” 

“What do you know of him?” 

“That he’s a good man and obsessed with Captain America,” he responded immediately and with a laugh in his tone. 

She grinned, filing that bit of information to use later. “So if I were to tell you he’s been assigned to this whole thing and Jane, being Jane, has gotten herself into the middle of it all?” 

“I’d tell you you’re probably in good hands as long as he doesn’t find out who your brothers are,” Colby said with a chuckle. “According to scuttlebutt, they didn’t get along the few times they had to work together. And anytime we’ve had to work with someone from SHIELD, Don almost always says something along the line that it better not be Coulson.” 

Darcy snickered. “Well, apparently that’s a family trait then, cause he doesn’t really know what to do with me,” she said cheekily. In her minds eye, she could see Colby pinching the bridge of his nose. Coulson was shaking his head as he listened to her side of the conversation. 

“Darling, do me a favor and don’t piss him off too much,” Colby requested. “He’s a good man but he’s also a damn good agent and I’m not sure even Charlie or Ian would be able to find your body.” 

“Good to know,” she said. “Though I think he’s scared of Jane so…” 

Coulson shot her what for him was a dirty look as her husband laughed over the phone. 

“I’ll see you tonight, Colby,” she said then, knowing she had to wrap this up quick so she could get back to her physicist. “I’ll call once I get off with the idjits and Dad.” 

“I’ll be waiting,” he replied softly. “I love you.” 

“Love you too.” They hung up.

Smiling to try and hide the tears from missing him, she looked up at Coulson. “Anything else, Ipod Thief?” she asked perkily. He gave her a knowing look but shook his head. “Great, can I go now?” 

He nodded and opened the interrogation room door. He lead her out of the compound, ignoring it when she waved at the few agents she recognized, including the funny one. At the door and the dirt parking lot, he stopped. She stopped too, somehow knowing he wanted to say something. 

“Secrets of this magnitude are difficult to keep hidden, especially from people we care about,” he said, not looking at her but out at where Eric and Jane were waiting impatiently at the van. “And Dr. Foster and Dr. Selvig have made it abundantly clear you are under their protection.” 

“You’re saying I should tell them,” she said and he nodded simply. She studied him a moment before shaking her head and walking towards the van. A few steps in, she turned so she was walking backwards. “When Jane starts spending hours fangirling over my brother, I’m calling you to deal with her. And I’ve seen people fangirl over Charlie before, it’s never pretty.” 

“I think I can handle it,” he called back dryly. 

“Ha!” she scoffed. “Famous last words!”

**Author's Note:**

> This came mostly from marathoning Numb3rs the last few weeks. I thought it'd be an interesting background for Darcy. ;) Also, it helps that given appearance, I think Kat Dennings could have played a younger sister to David Krumholtz's Charlie and Rob Morrow's Don. 
> 
> I have a bunch of other ideas for this as a series if there's any interest. Let me know. :)


End file.
